Did Wordsworth have an umbrella?

[alexsarll]

Oh, but this weather is a tease! So sunny and Spring - but it looked that way yesterday too, shortly before I got a drenching. And already today, there was the shower timed perfectly to catch me as I went for the paper.

If you've yet to hear Israel's Eurovision entry, a demonically gleeful response to the possibility of getting nuked by Iran, then Teapacks' 'Push The Button' can be found here. I was expecting something more synthpop, for some reason, so its Gogol Bordello stylings were rather a surprise, but it's still awesome. Between this, 'Vampires Are Alive' and the Ark up to do Sweden's entry, this is the first time since Tatu that I've put the date of the final in my diary.

"There aren't any jobs for black actors in the UK", complains an article backed up with an apparently compelling list of those who have made it big in the US. Where it falls down is in not noting that the young, attractive white male lead in The Wire is also a Brit without much UK work to his name, ditto the young white male leads of Battlestar Galactica. Even Hugh Laurie has been reduced to putting on an atrocious American accent as House, because there are simply more jobs and more money for actors in America, whatever colour they may be.

Comments

[darkmarcpi.livejournal.com]

The chorus of PTB is a little bit Electric Six, but other than that it still is pretty damn good, and, by the usual standard of Eurovision, impossibly great. I hope that it wins (and also gets re-released when Iran's nuke-making facilities get bombed to fvck some time in the near future).

The very fact that it exists, was voted for by the Israeli public and is actually quite decent, is proof - not that it were needed - of why their/our (Western) culture is better than the likes of Iran's, where such a thing just couldn't happen.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I don't actually *mind* Electric Six in general, it's just that none of the songs which aren't 'Danger! High Voltage' were 'Danger! High Voltage'.

[darkmarcpi.livejournal.com]

Anyway, according to Haarezt, the Eurovision bigwigs are going to ban PTB as it's not 'appropriate', or some other fun-hatingly poor excuse.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

WHAAAAAT? Do you have a link detailing this utter peonry?

[darkmarcpi.livejournal.com]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/832360.html

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The West letting Israel down again...

[darkmarcpi.livejournal.com]

Israel's response should be nuclear.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

It's not often that I would wish to disagree with that statement, but on this particular occasion it might be a wee bit excessive. Though if the Swiss entry is vetoed too on grounds of inappropriate undead content, I might reconsider.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

I like Hugh Laurie's American accent! Suspend your disbelief!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I can only ever view the show as an extended version of the Fry&Laurie sketches with the American accents, and so am constantly expecting Stephen Fry to storm in yelling "DAMMIT, JOHN!"
Even aside from that, whenever I watch it House has a Touching Moment Where He Drops His Gruff Demeanour, and this annoys me. Let him be a bastard, you bores!

[srk1.livejournal.com]

If you've yet to hear Israel's Eurovision entry, a demonically gleeful response to the possibility of getting nuked by Iran, then Teapacks' 'Push The Button' can be found here.

That's remarkable. It's almost a medley.

[auxyeuxdargent.livejournal.com]

This article is really annoying. Firstly, it makes no reference to theatre which suggests that there is no career to be had on the stage and secondly it makes no reference to the fact that there aren't ENOUGH black actors in the UK. Look at virtually any drama school prospectus and you'll see on avaerage three, four black faces out of the thirty student year intake. The article also fails in not mentioning that there aren't any jobs for actors in the UK period. Everything they say about casting directors is correct, but it applies to every actor regardless of colour. Most actors (unless they're famous or well established on the circuit) are unemployed! Grrr!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

3/30 is 10%, though - which if anything I believe is slightly higher than the proportion of black people in the British population.

But yes, I'm sure you could write a similar article about how British actresses are being driven to America, or old British actors, or young ones, and each time claim this as indicative of some terrible taint in our culture, while totally failing to spot the bigger picture. Special interest groups annoy me intensely.

The problem with stage work is, it doesn't show up on IMDB, which is about the limit of the average journalist's research.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Like Israel's culture, I suppose. Even aside from whether it's any good, it's just...fascinating.

[srk1.livejournal.com]

Fun fact: Apparently their name in Hebrew is actually 'tippex' (as in the correcting fluid) but this has been transliterated as 'teapacks'. Which is odd.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Maybe the change is for copyright reasons? Was reading the sleevenotes to DIY (http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=8494) yesterday, which explains how Kleenex and the Glaxo Babies were obliged to change their names - and that 20+ years ago, in a less brand-conscious age.
Tangentially - is one of the Monkees the heir to the Tippex fortune, or did I dream that?